Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart Collector's Edition
Score: 87% ESRB: 9+ Publisher: G5 Entertainment Developer: Artifex Mundi Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure/ Puzzle (Hidden Object)/ Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart Collector’s Edition has very pretty graphics which are nicely detailed. Your travels will take you from a museum, to a pirate ghost ship and finally, to a forgotten Caribbean island and each area is very scenic. There are little details here and there like raindrops splashing, things swaying in the wind, and various creatures and insects scurrying about. The scenes can be fairly eerie, whether you are peering into a coffin or examining a dead body. For the most part, Nightmares from the Deep is an adventure game, but there are the occasional hidden object scenes. You’ll have to be on the lookout for items that could be hidden under something else or tucked away in a drawer, but these are indicated by being shown in a different color (yellow versus white) in the list of items to locate. The mahjong tile games that you can play in lieu of the hidden object scenes (more on that in Gameplay) have a nice pirate theme to them with skulls, bones and palm trees adorning each tile. The background music is appropriately creepy and works well with the scenes to set you on edge just a bit. Some of the voice acting is a little bit cheesy, but for the most part, it sounds good and is pretty believable. Ghost pirates, including the determined Captain Remington, sound pirate-y, but the voice actor portraying your daughter can sometimes sound a little over the top.
Gameplay: In Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart Collector’s Edition, you play the curator of a museum that has recently obtained the remains of one cursed and long-dead pirate, Captain Henry Remington. With your daughter there to help with the exhibit, your museum is set to be the toast of the museum industry, but something ghastly happens. Captain Remington’s ghost becomes disturbed and he kidnaps your beloved daughter, spiriting her onto his ghost ship to transport her to his mysterious Caribbean island with plans that you’d rather not think about. By solving puzzles and chasing down the ship, you’ll hopefully be able to rescue your daughter and bring her back safely, perhaps even providing some eternal peace for the Captain. Don’t let Nightmares from the Deep fool you into believing it is a hidden object adventure. It is an adventure game through and through, with a few hidden object scenes that can easily be avoided if you don’t want to do them. You’ll have to search around the various locales to pick up needed items such as keys for entry, tools to open locked items, ingredients to create potions and things of that nature. Once you are actually on the ship, you’ll also run into members of Remington’s crew that will give you tasks in order to gain their help. Some of the puzzles are as easy as uncovering something buried under a pile of similar items, but others are more involved and may include a detailed recipe requiring you to gather items, then add them strictly according to a recipe that you must also find. It’s all standard adventure gaming, but again, if you are looking for a predominantly hidden object game, you’ll not find it here. You will encounter hidden object scenes from time to time and they will be indicated by glowing golden particles. When you click to enter the scene, if you find yourself stumped or even if you simply grow tired of it, you can click the mahjong tiles on the bottom left and enter into a mahjong game. Once you uncover all of the tiles, you obtain the needed items that you would have gotten from completing the hidden object scene. If you get stuck at any time, there’s a Hint button that will direct you and if you are playing in Regular Mode, it refills rather quickly.
Difficulty: Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart Collector’s Edition has two difficulty modes: Regular and Expert. Regular Mode doesn’t penalize you if you tap on the wrong spot, any Active Zones will glow so that you can easily spot them, the Hint and Skip button (for mini-games/puzzles) will fill rapidly and your map will indicate where you are as well as what areas have an available action. It’s a very handy tool if you get stumped and aren’t sure how to proceed. Naturally, Expert Mode doesn’t have all of these features that make the game much more easy. If you are an adventure gamer and want a healthy challenge, Expert Mode is for you. If you are more of a beginner at adventure, or prefer to play at a more leisurely pace, the Regular Mode is what you’ll want to play. Overall, the puzzles in Nightmares from the Deep have a nice mix of easy and tough to beat puzzles. As I mentioned earlier, some would involve simply unearthing an item by clicking on the topmost item until you finally clear the pile. There were also a number of puzzles where you had to rearrange broken pieces to complete a picture or play a slide puzzle. I only recall skipping one puzzle in the game and that was one where you had to complete or rearrange a circuit board, essentially. I know this is standard adventure gamer fare, but these always stump me. Rather than powering through it, I clicked the Skip button in my impatience.
Game Mechanics: Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart Collector’s Edition uses all gesture based controls like tapping and swiping. You’ll tap to proceed to an area and when you see an arrow, you’ll know that you can tap again to advance or to back out. You can tap on people to talk or to interact with them and you can tap on items to pick them up and add them to your inventory for later use. You’ll often be required to dig around in an area as items can be hidden and these won’t be glowing like a hidden object area will since you are simply finding one or two items that you’ll need. This is part of why I say the game is far more adventure than hidden object. Instead of just finding items from a list, you’ll often have to grab items lying around that will come in handy later on. Despite the fact that Nightmares from the Deep is so heavily adventure-based, I really enjoyed it. You’ll obtain Achievements as you progress and once you beat the game, if you have the Collector’s Edition, there is another (albeit shorter) adventure you can embark upon. I thought this would be a really short add-on, but it’s a fairly robust “level” that will have you exploring another ship and the island area around it. If you like adventure games, you’ll definitely want to check out Nightmares from the Deep because it is a good adventure. If you prefer hidden object, I still encourage you to check it out. The story and gameplay is fun and engaging and even though I typically shy away from adventure games, I really enjoyed Nightmares from the Deep.
-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Perkins
Related Links: Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart Collector's Edition | iTunes
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